ST. PAUL, Minn.—Overdue state aid payments to Minnesota schools will begin arriving in district accounts by week’s end.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s administration is catching up on $423 million in payments it delayed earlier this year to deal with a state cash crunch. Minnesota Management and Budget spokesman Curt Yoakum said the agency was processing the payments on Wednesday.

To avoid short-term borrowing, the administration announced in January it would hold back portions of school aid allowances for March and April. The move affected 231 districts.

That aid delay was separate from another $2 billion accounting shift involving school payments that Pawlenty and lawmakers agreed to recently as part of a budget balancing plan.

Yoakum said the University of Minnesota, which saw a $52 million appropriation withheld, will have to wait until June to get the money back instead of the targeted May payback.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in News

RICE LAKE, Minn. -- Susan and Geoffrey Bennett raise pygora goats on their Rice Lake farm for their fleece, which produces a prized fiber that can be like mohair or cashmere. Bigger goats produce more fiber; hence, it’s a matter of pure economics that bigger is better. “I don’t want to raise miniature goats,” Susan said earlier this week at...

The ice, snow and white-out conditions are gone, but fatalities on Minnesota roads -- which often accompany poor driving conditions -- are as prevalent as ever. In fact, the summer months typically see more fatalities than the winter months. The stretch of time from Memorial Day to Labor Day, termed the “100 deadliest days” by the Minnesota Department of Public...

The hospice at Boutwells Landing senior housing complex in Oak Park Heights closed Monday due to a compliance issue. Minnesota Department of Health officials recently identified that the hospice, called The Gathering, did not have the correct license to be a residential hospice, said Scott Smith, a spokesman for the department. The Gathering had a housing-with-services license, which covers assisted-living...

The University of Minnesota has backed away from a medical school fellowship in reproductive health care training that included abortion procedures following opposition from anti-abortion groups. The university took down the fellowship posting this month. The program was scheduled to begin in the fall, the Minnesota Daily reported. The Reproductive Health Access Project would have funded the fellowship, said Lisa...

A 2015 Teacher of the Year from St. Paul schools lost her spot on a new teacher licensing board because she insulted President Donald Trump, using a raw expletive, in a social media post. “He is not worthy, nor are his puppet masters, of human dignity,” reads the Jan. 12 Facebook post of Amy Hewett-Olatunde. “He is the s***hole and...